Category: Phillies/MLB

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A clean-shaven Nick Castellanos, dressed in a brown Padres hoodie, made his first public comments Sunday after signing a one-year deal with San Diego.

The former Phillies outfielder, who was released by the organization on Thursday, met with the media at the Padres’ spring training complex in Peoria, Ariz. He also spent time taking reps at first base. He is expected to see time there as the Padres already have an All-Star rightfielder in Fernando Tatis Jr.

Castellanos told reporters Sunday he “had a good idea” he would not be back with the Phillies following their exit in the National League Division Series. This winter, the Phillies repeatedly expressed interest in finding a change of scenery for Castellanos after he developed friction with manager Rob Thomson.

Castellanos expressed his excitement about playing for rookie Padres manager Craig Stammen, mentioning Stammen’s 13-year MLB career as a pitcher. Thomson never played in the major leagues.

“He’s a player. He’s done it,” Castellanos said of Stammen. “He’s put on spikes. He’s grinded. He’s felt the feeling of success, and he’s also felt the feeling of when the game doesn’t go your way. There’s a lot of respect in that. I’m excited to do whatever he needs me to do.”

On the Padres, Castellanos is reuniting with childhood friend Manny Machado, a former teammate on the U.S. 18-and-under team.

After his release, Castellanos posted a letter on Instagram thanking members of the organization and explaining the “Miami Incident.” During the eighth inning of a June 16 game in Miami, Castellanos said he brought a beer into the dugout after Thomson replaced him for defensive purposes. He was benched for the following game as punishment.

In his letter, Castellanos wrote that he “will learn from” the incident.

“I think [what] I said I will learn from this is I guess just letting my emotions get the best of me in a moment,” he said Sunday. “Possibly if I see things that frustrate me or I don’t believe are conducive to winning, to speak up instead of letting things just pile up over time and pile up over time and finally when I address it, it’s less emotional.”

Castellanos, who will turn 34 on March 4, batted .250 with 17 homers and 72 RBIs last season. He grades out poorly according to defensive metrics. He posted -12 outs above average and -11 defensive runs saved in 2025, both ranking as the worst among major league right fielders.

A.J. Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations, said Sunday that San Diego had done a lot of homework on Castellanos. He is signed to a league minimum contract ($780,000), with the Phillies responsible for the remainder of his $20 million deal.

“He was just super-forthright about the last year in Philly, the incident that was written about,” Preller said. “We talk about it all the time, I make many mistakes in this job. But ultimately, when people own up to those mistakes — and he did that in our call. It’s about giving guys another opportunity. He gets a fresh start here and a fresh opportunity.”

When Castellanos was asked if he wished anything would have ended differently in Philadelphia, he said he wished the Phillies would have won a World Series.

“Winning solves everything,” he said. “The one thing that I wish would’ve ended up different is that we would’ve won.”

Extra bases

The Phillies’ first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday. … A nonroster invitee, shortstop José Rodriguez, is starting spring a bit behind after suffering a shoulder injury in winter ball. Thomson said that Rodriguez is still able to hit.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — There’s a belt hanging in Jesús Luzardo’s locker at BayCare Ballpark embroidered with the words “SINK OR SWIM.”

It’s a motto of the Phillies 28-year-old left-hander, one that is also written on his glove. He adopted it after the 2023 season during his time with the Miami Marlins, and really leaned into it the following year after he suffered a season-ending back injury.

For him, it embodies how it feels to be a pitcher, alone on the mound.

“There’s really only one option. It’s either you make it, or you don’t,” Luzardo said. “It’s something I like to live by.”

The motto remains a guiding light as Luzardo enters a pivotal season, his last one before reaching free agency.

The Phillies’ rotation, an organizational strength for the past several years, has some question marks in 2026. The Phillies are optimistic about Zack Wheeler’s progress from thoracic surgery, but he is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. Andrew Painter, a longtime friend of Luzardo’s, has the chance to earn a spot, but he has yet to throw a pitch in a major league game.

After the free agency departure of fellow lefty Ranger Suárez, Luzardo joins Cristopher Sánchez as two anchors in the Phillies’ rotation to start the season.

Coming off a career-high 183 ⅔ innings in 2025, Luzardo didn’t change much about his winter training. He prioritized rest and some lower-intensity workouts early in the offseason, but things were mostly business as usual.

“I feel now, just as good, or better than I did last year,” Luzardo said.

But he did come to camp with a potential new trick up his sleeve. Last season, in his first spring with the Phillies, Luzardo began toying with a sweeper. It ultimately became one of his best weapons, and he threw it 31% of the time. The pitch had a 43.7% whiff rate, and opponents hit just .178 against it.

This year, instead of adding another pitch to his mix of five, he is focusing on refining his changeup.

“Just kind of trying to fine-tune it, and see if I can maybe get a little more swing-and-miss, or just kind of give guys a different look,” Luzardo said. “… Not that my changeup last year was bad, but it was maybe not elite, and I want to be as elite as possible.”

The process started about two months ago as a collaborative effort with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and the coaches Luzardo works with at home in South Florida. Luzardo’s changeup was his third-most used pitch in 2025, behind his four-seam and sweeper. He primarily threw it to right-handed batters, and hitters had a .224 batting average against it.

“He’s always trying to find that edge and the stretch to ‘What’s next? What can I do to get a little better?’” Cotham said. “And I think it’s important. That’s why guys like him stay in pace with the league, because the league’s always getting better. Hitters are always getting better.”

Luzardo said he “didn’t want to give much away” about the new-look pitch, but it does involve a change in grip. The idea is to make the changeup more consistent in how it flies.

Cotham visited Luzardo once during the offseason, but they mostly communicated via texts and videos. Watching Luzardo in a bullpen session earlier this week, Cotham was impressed with the results.

“It’s as good as I’ve seen it,” Cotham said. “Hitters will be the true test.”

Luzardo’s commitment to finding ways to reinvent himself as a pitcher reminds Cotham of Wheeler, who added a splitter in 2024 and a sweeper the year before.

“You have to evolve. You have to keep seeing what you’re capable of,” Cotham said. “That’s the coolest part of being part of his journey, and being his coach, [is] being part of that collaborative process.”

Extra bases

Right-hander Zach McCambley, a Phillies Rule 5 pick in the December draft, threw a live batting practice session Saturday. “I like him,” Thomson said of the 26-year-old from the Marlins organization who has been a reliever the past three seasons after being drafted in the third round in 2020. “He can really spin his slider, what you call the sweeper. Really good pitch. There’s some depth there. He’s got a good fastball. It’s going to be mid-90s [mph]. Commands the baseball. It’s a good pickup.” … Catcher René Pinto has reported to camp after being delayed by visa issues in Venezuela.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Nick Castellanos has a new team.

Two days after the Phillies released him with one year left on his contract, Castellanos agreed Saturday to join the Padres, a major league source confirmed.

The Phillies will pay all but the major league minimum ($780,000) portion of his $20 million salary for 2026.

The Phillies were intent on moving on from Castellanos after he clashed last season with manager Rob Thomson. In response to a report that was about to be published by The Athletic, Castellanos detailed a June 16 incident in which he brought a beer into the dugout in the eighth inning of a game in Miami after Thomson replaced him for defense. Castellanos was benched for the next game.

Castellanos, who ranked among the worst defenders in the sport, also lost his everyday role in right field in August and publicly criticized Thomson in September for “questionable” communication.

“It was just a difficult situation,” Thomson said recently on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “The thing with Nick, the bottom line is, he wants to play every day. He wants to play every inning, every day, and you can’t fault him for that. I think I respect him a great deal, just for being that guy.”

Castellanos played literally every day for most of his time with the Phillies after signing a five-year, $100 million contract in 2022. He started 236 consecutive games, including all 162 in 2024. It was the longest streak by a Phillies player since Pete Rose started 350 consecutive games from 1980 to 1983.

A two-time All-Star with 250 career homers, Castellanos batted .260 with 82 homers and a .732 OPS for the Phillies. His OPS+ of 100 indicated league-average production relative to all major league hitters.

Castellanos reportedly will play first base for the first time in his career for the Padres, who also intend to use him as a designated hitter. He could see time in the outfield, although San Diego is well-stocked with Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramón Laureano in right and left, respectively, with Jackson Merrill in center field.

The Phillies play the Padres on May 25-27 in San Diego and June 2-4 at Citizens Bank Park.

In December of 2021, Vance Worley received an unexpected email. He’d recently played parts of the minor league season with the Mets’ triple-A affiliate in Syracuse and heard from one of the organization’s scouts, Conor Brooks.

Brooks had ties to Britain’s national baseball team. The organization was interested in adding Worley to its roster ahead of the World Baseball Classic qualifier in Germany in September and told him that he was eligible to pitch.

As the former Phillie read the message, he started to laugh.

“I’m like, ‘How?’” he said. “‘Where is my lineage to Great Britain?’”

Worley had never been to England, Scotland, or Wales. Neither had anyone in his immediate family. But the team was able to find an unconventional loophole.

Worley’s mother, Shirley, was born in Hong Kong while it was under British rule. All Brooks needed was a birth certificate.

The right-handed pitcher called his parents. A few minutes later, he texted a screenshot of Shirley’s birth certificate to the scout.

By September, he was on a flight to Germany for a game against Spain. Great Britain won in a 10-9 walk-off, punching a ticket to the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

For Worley, the timing was perfect. The swingman made his big league debut with the Phillies in 2010. He earned a spot on the team’s roster in 2011, when he pitched to a 3.01 ERA across 131⅔ innings and finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting behind Craig Kimbrel and Freddie Freeman.

But he bounced around after that. The Phillies traded him to the Twins in 2012. Minnesota placed him on waivers in March 2014, and outrighted him to triple A once he cleared.

At this point, Worley says he was in a dark place. He texted former Phillies teammate John Mayberry Jr. and said he was ready to quit. Mayberry quickly convinced him otherwise.

“You play until they rip that damn jersey off your back,” the outfielder told his friend.

Worley has been pitching ever since. He’s now 38, teaching baseball lessons out of a gym in South Jersey. He hasn’t thrown an MLB inning in nine years, but that doesn’t faze him.

The right-handed pitcher loves the game and has found a home with Britain’s baseball federation. Since 2024, he’s worked on the side as a pitching coach for the under-23 national team. In March, he’ll suit up for the WBC in what his could be his last appearance on the mound.

“This program has given to me,” Worley said. “So I said, ‘I’m going to stick around. I’m going to help you guys out, and I’m going to coach with you guys. And as long as you let me play, I’m going to keep playing.’”

‘I’ve been called Grandpa’

Worley still remembers stepping into the visitors’ clubhouse at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on a hot July day. It was 2010, and he’d recently been called up by the Phillies.

The right-handed pitcher arrived early and watched as his new teammates filtered on and off the field. He was starstruck, especially when he saw Joe Blanton, a player Worley rooted for as an A’s fan growing up in Sacramento, Calif.

He decided to introduce himself.

“I was like, ‘Hey Joe, it’s nice to meet you,’” Worley recalled. “‘I remember watching you when I was in high school.’

“[Blanton] just goes, ‘God, I’m getting old.’”

Worley had a similar experience when he joined Great Britain in 2022. One of his new teammates was Nick Ward, a longtime minor league infielder who was born and raised in Kennett Square.

Ward was brought up on the Phillies teams of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard. But he’d had a special affinity for “The Vanimal,” a pitcher who’d never thrown the hardest but was a fierce competitor.

Similar to how Worley was with Blanton, Ward was in awe. The righty looked the same as he did on TV, back when he was donning black-rimmed glasses and a Phiten necklace.

“It was like, ‘Holy crap. That’s Vance Worley,’” Ward said. “I had to pinch myself. It was just really cool that one of the guys that I loved to watch play was actually a super good dude.”

Just as it did with Blanton, this reaction made Worley feel a bit old. But he has embraced his role as the team’s elder statesman.

“I’ve been called Uncle,” Worley said. “I’ve been called Grandpa. And I’m just like, ‘Whatever man, your uncle and grandpa, think about them barbecues, out there playing Wiffle ball. I’d be punching you out right now. I see things you don’t know yet.’”

After he returned from Germany, Worley continued to throw. He used his day job, teaching baseball at Powerhouse Sports Arena in Sewell, Gloucester County, to help him stay in shape.

Once he arrived in Arizona for the WBC in 2023, he mentored the younger players around him. One was Harry Ford, Britain’s catcher, who was drafted by the Mariners in 2021 but has since been traded to the Nationals.

Worley asked his coaches if he could work with Ford one-on-one, and he started teaching the young backstop the minutiae: how to set up early, how to set up late, how to work quick.

He showed him different pitch shapes, how they moved, and the strategy behind calling a game. The veteran pitcher served as a pseudo player-coach for the entire team, giving them words of encouragement on the field and off.

For Ward, this instruction made a big impact. Like Worley, he’d bounced around a lot in the lead-up to the 2023 WBC. But unlike Worley, he’d never played a big league inning.

Great Britain’s first game was scheduled on March 11 against Team USA, a roster stacked with prominent major leaguers. Worley was scheduled to start, which, years removed from MLB, was a daunting feat.

He threw 2⅔ innings, allowing three hits and no runs with three walks and a strikeout. While Worley was on the mound, Ward made a few big defensive plays at first base. The right-handed pitcher made his appreciation known, giving Ward a fist-bump or a point or a smile.

“It was just like, ‘Wow, if this guy that I used to really look up to is doing that … I’m good enough,’” Ward said. “And it wasn’t just me that he was doing this to. He was making all of us feel like we belong here.”

Worley exited the game early due to pain in his elbow. Great Britain lost, 6-2, and when he picked up his bag to get onto the bus, he felt the pain again. He would need bone chip surgery (the third of his career).

Worley thought this would be the last time he’d step on a mound. He was despondent that his time in baseball would come to such an unceremonious end.

Before Great Britain’s game against Colombia on March 13, Ward noticed Worley standing alone on the top step of the dugout.

It was just before first pitch. The minor leaguer gave the big league veteran a hug.

“Thank you,” Ward told him. “I got to be your fan, first. Getting to share the field with you was one of the coolest moments that I could have ever dreamed about.”

A new chapter

Great Britain ended up defeating Colombia, 7-5, before falling to Mexico, 2-1, on March 14. Before they left Arizona, the players reminisced over what they’d done.

Worley reminded them that the British team wasn’t expected to be in the tournament in the first place. The players had come from all walks of life and had shown they deserved to be there.

“A lot of them were never in pro ball, or didn’t get an opportunity, or had an injury that shut them out,” Worley said. “And for them to be able to play in a big league stadium, playing big leaguers … I was like, ‘Hey, man, no matter what anybody says to you, you’re a big leaguer today.’”

The win over Colombia secured Great Britain’s berth for the 2026 tournament, which Ward and Worley will both be participating in.

Worley has gotten creative in his preparation. He’s integrated it into his day-to-day life, throwing in neighborhood sandlot games with his kids and also at the gym where he gives lessons.

He’ll report to camp in Arizona on Feb. 26. He has not officially retired and is unsure if this will be his last outing in a baseball game.

But the former Phillie is going to treat it that way, just in case.

“I’ve been through pretty much every situation as a player,” Worley said. “Trade, waive, claim, release, DFA. And I’m relentless. I’m not going to let something that should sidetrack me, or take me off the track, [prevent me from] being a baseball player, and what I enjoy.”